BERKELEY – The California baseball team (19-28, 6-19 ACC) scored the game's first two runs before No. 2 Florida State (35-10, 15-7 ACC) responded with eight unanswered in an 8-2 victory over the Golden Bears in the opener of a three-game ACC series on a pleasant Friday evening in front of 1,106 at Stu Gordon Stadium.

The Seminoles are the highest ranked team to play in Berkeley since Mar. 16-18, 2018, when a No. 1 Oregon State squad swept Cal in a three-game Pac-12 series.

Cal touched Florida State starter and winning pitcher Jamie Arnold (6-1) for a pair of runs with one in both the bottom of the second and third innings. Arnold, who scattered two runs (one earned), six hits, two walks and one hit batter with nine strikeouts over the first 6.0 innings, is near the top of most 2025 Major League Baseball mock drafts.

Max Handron scored the first Cal run after he doubled with one out before making his way home on an error when Cade Campbell beat out an infield single on a ball between first and second base that Seminole first baseman Myles Bailey fielded cleanly but threw away while trying to throw to Arnold covering first base.

Cal picked up another run in the third when Jarren Advincula led off with a double and scored three batters later with two outs when Jacob French singled to center field on an 0-2 pitch.

The Bears would not score again and get only one more hit the rest of the way off Arnold and a pair of Florida State relievers – Joe Charles (2.0 IP, 1 B, 5 SO, 2 WP) and Chris Knier (1.0 IP, 1 SO) – to finish with only six hits. No Cal player had a multiple-hit game.

Cole Tremain (1.0 IP, 1 H) opened the contest for the Golden Bears with a scoreless top of the first and eventual losing pitcher Ethan Foley (3-3) would toss two more scoreless frames before Drew Faurot's two-run line drive homer over the right field wall with one out in the top of the fourth knotted the score at 2-2.

Florida State took its first lead when No. 9 hitter Jaxson West connected off Foley on a 3-2 pitch for a homer also over the right field wall to lead off the fifth.

Faurot had another big hit with a two-run double in the sixth to increase Florida State's lead to 5-2 and the Seminoles tacked on three more in the seventh on a Cal error and RBI singles from Bailey and Cal Fisher.

Faurot (4-5, R, 2B, HR, 4 RBI) led Florida State's 12-hit offensive attack with his third consecutive four-hit performance and had been a perfect 12-for-12 over his last three games before grounding out to the pitcher for Florida State's final out in the top of the ninth.

Alex Lodise (3-5, R), West (2-4, R, HR, RBI) and Fisher (2-4, 2 R, RBI, HBP) also had multiple-hit games for the Seminoles.

Cal used six pitchers with the final three relievers – Logan Piper (0.1 IP, 1 H, 1 BB), Jordy Lopez (1.0 IP) and Miles Tenscher (1.0 IP, 1 BB, 1 SO) – recorded scoreless outings.

The second game of the series is slated for Saturday (2 p.m. PT) while the first pitch for Sunday's series finale is slated for 1 p.m. PT. A live stream of both remaining contests will be available on ACCNX/ESPN+.
 
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